Various Notes and Suggestions

[Ariosto Marzani]

These are just various things I believe could or should be implemented in the game in some capacity. All of them are suggestions I've made elsewhere (the first three for MOD '33), but have decided to collect them here; many of them may very well no longer apply, so apologies on those accounts. What do you think of the following:

Followed Epaminondas's advice and kept trying to download the files. Finally got it working after the 11th download; not sure what was happening there. Upon opening the game, I noticed a few things, mainly territory-wise, that should be subject to change. Forgive me if these changes are already being worked upon, but I would like to still put them out there.

• Peru should gain provinces 2024 and 2002 as National Provinces.
• Bolivia should have 2024 removed as a National Province while adding 2025.
• Province 2002; Acre, was one of the largest, if not the largest, rubber contributer to the Allies during WWII. Currently the province has no worth, as in the case throughout the Amazonas. Think this should be rectified.
• Add 348 (Gibraltar) as a national province of Spain. Also the colonies should be set as claims.
• 534, 535, and 541 should be national provinces of Finland.
• 1458, 1455, 1414, 1104, and 1119 should be national provinces of the Republic of China.
• 1455 and 1458 should be national provinces of the People's Republic of China.
• 1394, 1405, 1391, 1404, 1413, 1434, 1433, 1435, and 1436 should be national provinces of Thailand. Arguably some of them could be displayed as claims.
• 387, 388, 360, 328, 378, 379 and 333 should be set as national provinces of Greece. 334 should be set as a claimed province.
• 252, 253, and 254 should be at least set as claimed provinces of Lithuania. Wasn't sure on National.
• 619, 618, 612, 614, 611, 616, 609, 617, 595, 598, 597, 594, 596, and 592 I think should be Polish Claims; this is the extent of the territory they occupied in the Polish-Soviet War, and is arguable. Some of thei Polish starting provinces arguably should start as Claims rather than National provinces as well.
• 203, 168, and 185 as National provinces for Poland. Again, arguable, both in status and in general.
• Add 334 as a Bulgarian claim. Remove 365 and 366 as Bulgarian national territories, since those lands were never considered part of Greater Bulgaria. Turn 310 into a Bulgarian Claim rather than National province; Bulgarians were not that numerous within Constanta, sort of an inverse of what is Dobrich.
• Add 379 and 378 as Turkish National Provinces. They had wanted those islands back from the Italians since 1912, and were rather cross when they were awarded to Greece. There is also a significant Turkish presences, the islands not having participated in the population exchange.
• 1053, 1054, and 840 should be added as National Provinces for Yemen.
• All British Colonial Land should be turned into Claimed Provinces.
• All French colonies should be turned into Claimed Provinces, except for Northern Algeria, which had been integrated into France; those should be National Provinces. Provinces in question are 735, 734, 731. 743, 736, 732, 727, 728, 729, 730, and 733.
• Germany should have, from the start, claims on all its former colonies, both in Africa and in the Pacific. Confused about the German claims in Switzerland however, at least as National Territory.
• All Portuguese Colonial Lands should be turned into Claimed Provinces.
• Danzig should be Independent as a Puppet of Poland.
• Saarbrucken should be Independent as a Puppet of France.
• Thought about adding former Soviet territory lost to Poland as National/Claimed provinces. Dependent on how Poland is chosen to be done.
• All Italian colonies should be turned into Claimed Provinces. Tunis and Ethiopia should also be Claimed.

I know this might be a bit much, but these are my thoughts on the subject.

Some other minor notes:

• Nicaragua and Haiti technically should start as puppets of the United States, considering that during the American occupation of those countries, they were politically and economically dominated by the United States. The withdrawal from Nicaragua is already noted in the current game. I am not sure about Haiti, I have to admit, but the withdrawal was done/started on the first of August in 1934.
• Cuba is under a similar situation, but is more difficult to regulate. The United States continuously sent troops into the country to maintain relatively Pro-American governments, and American companies controlling the grand majority of the nation's economy. The Platt Amendment itself I presume could be drawn as a bench-mark for this, given when it was withdrawn it removed the United State's ability to unilaterally intervene in Cuba; this was done June 9th of 1934. Of course, the Cuba was still dominated economically, more so as time wore on, and the US sponsored Batista during both his regimes.
• Mexico should support Republican Spain during the Spanish Civil War, provided Cardenas is the President. Actual military volunteers could also be a possibility, but would result in a major decline of relations with the United States.
• Building off of the above, should the Republican Government be defeated in the Civil War, Mexico, if under Cardenas, should be able to accept refugees from the conflict, resulting in significant manpower and cash gains.
• Portugal had a major part in the Spanish Civil War, providing about 12,000-20,000 men in volunteers, and allowing Nationalist forces to travel through their territory. Under such conditions, I suppose supplies, two divisions, and the granting of military access to the Nationalists would best represent this situation. There was also talk of direct intervention combined with this minor build-up, but after some demonstrations by Pro-Republican elements, it was feared this might destabilize the country.
• Even though France was pressured by the British not to intervene in Spain, Leon Blum who was sympathetic to the Republican cause covertly supported their government until December of 1936. Even after that point, there was serious discussion within France about occupying Catalonia and the Balearic Islands, and in some cases Spanish Morocco. Suppose this might be an interesting alternate history event.
• This is unfortunately dependent in part on whether the Balearic Islands are ever split apart again. Shortly after entering the Spanish Civil War, Italy occupied the island of Majorca, with the intention to annex it and establish a major naval installation to cover the Western Mediterranean. This was part of a larger plan to take over the entirety of the Balearic Islands, the territory of Cueta, and the establishment of a client state in Spain. Italian forces maintained their occupation of the island until April 12th, 1939, when Mussolini withdrew them to prepare for further operations in Eastern Europe.
• For nations that are actually deploying 'Expeditionary Forces' into the Spanish Civil War, there should be some sort of supply drain to represent this, to be deactivated at the end of the War. This could be triggered in the same event where the 'volunteers' are being sent in the first place.

More notes still; wondering if I should just place them at the Strategium Forums:

• After the Fall of France, the Dutch Government strongly considered concluding a separate peace with Germany, at the insistence of the then Prime Minister De Geer. The only reason this did not occur was due to the opposition of Queen Wilhelmia, who strongly suspected that the Dutch East Indies would be occupied by Japan following such a move; this was later found to be correct. De Geer was 'fired', and the Dutch remained with the Allies. Still, the opposite seemed a significant possibility.
  • Aruba and Curacao housed the world's largest petroleum refineries, and were the major suppliers of Petroleum to the Allies during World War II. Not sure how this could be represented however, but it grants the islands additional worth. The were important enough to be subject to Axis attack in 1942 (specifically Aruba).
  • After the fall of the Netherlands in 1940, the United Kingdom occupied Aruba and Curacao and made use of the island's refineries for the war effort. Their Administration was later handed to the United States in 1942, after they entered the war.
  • Under an arrangement with the Dutch Government in Exile, the United States occupied Dutch Guyana on November 23rd, 1941. I am not sure exactly how valuable the mines in Dutch Guiana were, but British Guiana managed to produce around (1,000,000) - (2,000,000) tonnes a year after 1940. I imagine something at a quarter that rate.
• South Africa's decision to go to war with Germany was much closer than I thought. While Jan Smuts and the Pro-British faction of the United Party were able to depose of Hertzog, leader of the Anti-British faction, with only a short struggle. However, the other significant party, the Purified National Party, was made up of the Hardliner Afrikanners, and wholly backed neutrality in the conflict. The actual decision to go to war was only approved by a narrow vote, so it should be just as possible in many games for South Africa to be at war with Germany, as it is to be at Peace.
• Sweden:
  • Previously there were Defense Plans in place between Sweden, Finland, and Estonia, in the case of aggressive action on the part of the Soviet Union against any of these countries. However, with the rise of Molotov, Pro-Soviet ministers managed to convince the Swedish Government to renade on these Plans, given it could no longer play the Soviet Union off of Germany.
  • Apparently there was a very strong movement within Sweden join in the Winter War on Finland's side, in stark contrast to the government's opinion; Gustav V managed to quiet this movement after giving a national speech advocating neutrality, causing some bitterness among the Finns. However, it is possible that public opinion could have managed to override these concerns, especially in the case of a Moderate Party government. Building off of this, the government had originally wanted to declare Non-Belligerent status, but were very worried that the public might then bully them into active participation.
  • Despite the government deciding against participation, Archibald Douglas, Commander of the Northern Forces, put in place plans to actively intervene in the Winter War should the Soviet Union reach a certain point in Northern Finland, principally occupying all land east of the Kemijoki River. Might have had interesting consequences, given the government never knew of these plans until after the war, and still made him Chief of the Armed Forces. There were around 100,000 soldiers deployed along the Swedish-Finnish power by the end.
  • From May of 1940 to August 15th of 1943, Germany should have military access in Sweden to represent the transit rights that were present. The time in which these rights are removed could possibly be subject to some sort of trigger, rather than dated.
  • There was a very real possibility from August to December of 1940, that Finland and Sweden would enter a Union. Both the Swedish and Finnish governments approved of the arrangements, but before they could be applied, joint German-Soviet pressure forced both nations to drop the plans.

Maybe the best course would be to lock those divisions designed to man the Maginot Line, but have an event following 'Danzig or War' where France can possibly unlock those divisions. There should be a small chance that France could go on the offensive, but overwhelmingly the AI should favor the defensive option, keeping the units locked. A similar option to appear the moment either German forces enter France, or Brussels falls, with the AI favored option freeing up those divisions that made up the 2nd Army Group. The 3rd Army Group would remain locked until some months after, serving as the chief fortress divisions.

Any Garrison representing a Defensive Sector or Fort (as is prominent with the French) should be permanently locked and frozen.